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Topic: Your holiday hill to die on. (Read 1018231 times)

When I was young, I loved Valentines. I loved the flowers, the chocolates, the dinners out.

Then DH and I got married and suddenly those chocolates and flowers were coming out of "Our Money" and it just didn't seem as important. Horrible I know. And I don't think I realized it till I was reading these stories.

Our first Valentines Day after we married we left work to view a home in a neighborhood we were thinking of moving to and then planned to stop at a restaurant for dinner. I became ill on the side of the road (pregnant and had "all day" sickness for the first 3 months), traffic was terrible getting out to the house, the house was horrible and the restaurant (no reservations policy) had a 90 minute wait. We went home, decided the townhome we owned had miraculously become large enough for us and a baby since that morning, and called for take out Chinese.

DH still buys really good See's Candy for me, DD, and DS for valentines (not the prepackaged boxes... he goes and customizes to each our our tastes because DD and I can be a little "particular" about chocolates) but we still have take out Chinese at home.

One solo Valentine's Day, I stopped at my local grocery store for some dinner on my way home. As I got ready to drive away, I noticed the inordinate number of single male shoppers rushing into the store and leaving with flowers and nothing else. I sat there for a few minutes longer to watch and just cracked up as I saw one guy after another do the same thing. So, if you want to amuse yourself, people-watching at the grocery store in the afternoon/evening of Valentine's Day can be a crack-up.

Holidays used to be a huge deal to me, especially the ones that had usually been couples holidays to me (New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day). I don't care so much anymore, but DH is very big into holidays and gift-giving at holidays so, typically, I celebrate in this manner for him. Fortunately, DH has zero interest in doing something like eat out on Valentine's Day (he agrees that the restaurants are over-priced and crowded so we'd rather stay in).

One solo Valentine's Day, I stopped at my local grocery store for some dinner on my way home. As I got ready to drive away, I noticed the inordinate number of single male shoppers rushing into the store and leaving with flowers and nothing else. I sat there for a few minutes longer to watch and just cracked up as I saw one guy after another do the same thing. So, if you want to amuse yourself, people-watching at the grocery store in the afternoon/evening of Valentine's Day can be a crack-up.

Holidays used to be a huge deal to me, especially the ones that had usually been couples holidays to me (New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day). I don't care so much anymore, but DH is very big into holidays and gift-giving at holidays so, typically, I celebrate in this manner for him. Fortunately, DH has zero interest in doing something like eat out on Valentine's Day (he agrees that the restaurants are over-priced and crowded so we'd rather stay in).

Having worked in a floral shop (within a grocery store) during Valentine's I can sooo agree with you! It's a steady stream of guys buying chocolate and flowers from 5pm on. The later it gets the worse it is and heaven help you if you run out of flowers. Prepare to get yelled at for ruining their night because they couldn't be bothered to get a gift until 8pm the day of.

I do feel sorry for florists though, because they work so hard and get yelled at constantly, usually over prices. Of course I can't speak for everyone, but I know that in the case of our shop (and the hundreds of others within that grocery chain) the florists did not mark the prices up - that came from the growers. The florists had to raise prices to maintain the same profit they make all year and not take a loss on the hundreds of cases of product they brought in that week.

DH & I are not much into Valentine's Day, we mostly do stuff for the kids. DH will feel as if he has to buy me flowers sometimes though, all the commercialism and watching the ladies in the office receive theirs tends to do that to him. My hill to die on for VD has been if he feels he really must get me flowers or chocolate, please get it Feb 15th when the prices are slashed in half